This invention relates to inflatable mattress structures, more particularly for use on invalid or hospital beds.
Inflatable air cushion and mattress type structures are quite well known and exist in various forms. One type of inflatable air cushion structure is manufactured by Roho Incorporated of 100 Florida Avenue, Belleville, Illinois 62221 and comprises rows of inflatable upstanding cells or bulbs on a common flattish manifold type base which has a single inflation valve for inflating the cells or bulbs in unison through the manifold. The device is useful, for example, for therapeutic purposes as a chair cushion and the like because, inter alia, selected bulbs can be closed off by constricting the bulb to obtain variations in cushion resistance and the like. The Roho cushions exist in both high-profile and low-profile models having different bulb heights.
It is also known to form a mattress structure from cushions of the kind described above by connecting together transverse mattress sections, each of which is formed by one of the cushion structures so that a mattress is effectively provided to a specified length by connecting together the required number of mattress sections lengthwise of the structure. Typically, a mattress structure of this nature may have four transverse sections connected together by Velcro fasteners or the like, each section, for example, having 10 bulbs or cells extending lengthwise of the mattress and 18 bulbs or cells extending widthwise of the mattress.
Examples of inflatable structures as discussed above may be found in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,605,145; 3,870,450; 4,005,236 and in Canadian Pat. No. 1,044,823.